Rise of chaos
by gabthegreat
Summary: sequel to star and rose, Yusei and Aki are still dating and very much in love. But when new forces arise, can they overcome the obstacles in their way? same pairings as before
1. prologue

**(AN) WARNING: as with the last 5D's story, some elements of the show's storyline with be altered...**

**Essentially, this will be my version of the Dark signer arc.**

**I do not own yugioh 5D's.**

**enjoy...**

Rise of Chaos

**Prologue:**

It was a cold night. Cold, and dark. Before our story begins, let me take you away from the brilliant light of Neo-Domino city, to a place of much less fortunate area known as the satelite. We all know what to expect here: Rats, Roaches, and deserted/wrecked houses. This is where Yusei Fudo, the new king of Neo-Domino city, formely resided until the whole Fortune cup incident.

But our story does not begin in this part of the satellite, it starts much deeper. In an even more perilous zone, known as B.A.D. Awkward name:yes, but it's hardly an exagerration. This area was not all that different from the rest of satellite until a mysterious earthquake forced all the inhabitants to leave. It is now filled with piles of junk and scrap-metal, entire streets are cracked open down the middle, making them impossible to use and quite easy to fall through. The buildings are much worse off than rest of the satellite, they collapse on a daily basis turning streets into bomb zones.

Are story starts in the deepest, foulest part of this zone. To a chamber somewhere deep underground. The chamber was poorly lit, but one could see that it had the appearence of a great hall. Large pillars made archeways leading to big wooden doors that lead to separate rooms. In the center of the chamber, was a large wooden table with six chairs. Three candles sat upon the center, And at the head sat a man, garbed in an odd outfit. He was dressed in a long, flowing black cloak accented with crimson stripes. His chair was turned away from the table, and he was gazing upwards towards a hole in the cealing, where one could see the stars quite clearly. But one could see more then just stars tonight, a large comet, blazing with dark fire, was streaming across the night sky. At this moment, the figures' arm began to glow the same color as the comet: a mysterious spider-shaped mark.

The man grinned. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He turned back to the table and outstreched his arms.

"Come, my bretheren, the hour of which we have awaited is finally upon us!"

As he called out his summoning, the five doors opened. Out of which, darkness flooded forth. Ghostly moans could be heard as the shadows sweeped through the room. The man did not flinch however, he just stood there wearing his calm yet confident smile. When the shadows cleared, five people now sat in the once empty chairs, they all wore robes simillar to his own, but they each had a different color accenting them. To his left sat two men in gold and blue, while on his right sat two women in orange and green. At the opposite head of the table, facing him, was a young man wearing silver.

"You summoned us, Rudger-sama," he asked.

"I did," the man, apparently named Rudger, confirmed, "My children, the hour we have long awaited is at last upon us, for I have just witnessed the Devils' comet in the night sky,, in direct trajectory with the dragon star!" he continued. His exclamation was followed by gasps of surprise.

"Rudger-sama," began the woman in green. "Does this mean-"

"Yes Misty," Rudger cut her off. "It means our lords and masters shall soon be liberated from their prison. Infact, their bindings have already loosened," As he said these words five cards appeared before each of the figures. More gasps of shock emmenated through the room as they picked them up.

"Rudger-sama," said the one in blue "these are..."

"As I said, Kiryu, their bindings have loosened," Rudger began. "They are capable of physical manifestation, but they are still partially sealed. So the cards you see before you are currently incomplete," he explained.

"Then how do we complete them?" asked the one in silver.

"All will be explained in due time, Daisuke," Ruger assured them. "In the mean time, your orders are to return to your quarters and prepare, for once the sun sets tomorrow night, our ultimate plan will be set in motion! And we will have our revenge upon the signers!" He exclaimed.

"Death to the signers!" the others chanted. Unable to contain his emotions any longer, Rudger chuckled. That chuckling soon became a fool blown maniacle laugh, soon every one of his companions joined in. Soon, very soon, their revenge would be at hand.

**End of prologue...**

**stay tuned for 1rst chapter...**


	2. It begins

**(a/n): not much to say here**

**i don't own yugioh 5d's the character Daisuke Fujiwara belongs to me though...**

**enjoy**

It begins...

The sun was rising, it was quite the beutiful morning. Completely innocent, hiding the events from the previous night. But more on that later, for now, let us proceed to the apartement building of Tops, where to figures are happily sleeping in eachothers arms. As the rays of sunlight struck one of the figures, she groaned and opened her eyes. Revealing almost feline-like eyes. This person: Aki Izayoi.

_Great_,she thought _I just hate it when I wake up like this_, It was the truth. Every time she went to bed, she would almost always wake up to the annoying sun in her eyes. Even though she tried quite often to go to sleep with her face buried in a certain someone's chest. With his strong-yet-gentle arms wrapped around her. She turned herself over just to look at that certain someone: her boyfriend for the past 3 months now, Yusei Fudo.

As she slowly brought her hand to rest on his face, peacefully in slumber. Aki began contemplating her life and how it was once she and Yusei started dating. The very morning of the night their relationship started, Aki had been treated like family from every single one of Yusei's friends. Something she was quite unused to (She got used to it eventually of course). On top of that, her personna had gone through a dramatic change: if anyone who had been at the Fortune cup would have seen her now, only her appearence would give her away. She had changed from a cold, cruel, merciless duelist to a softer, happier and kinder person. This change was highly noticed by the others, who commented on it for a while. It brought her a little more joy in her life, and her happiness had allowed her to keep her powers completely under control. This interern allowed her to duel more safely, and people had started to gain a whole new respect for her. That of course just just made her happier, assuring her mark's control.

_And it's all thanks to you, Yusei_, She was running her hands through his black hair, gently so as not to awake him. Then she brought it down to the criminal marker on his face, and traced its' design with her finger. She knew it was a little silly, but she just couldn't help feel a little disgust when she touched the marker. Not only was it unfairly placed on him, but in her opinion it was a true wretched mark that spoiled the beauty of his face. She dismissed those thoughts for now and continued to gently caress his face for a while before he finally woke up. His blue eyes blinked open and he smiled once they found hers. She smiled back and kissed him in greeting.

"Ohayo*, Yusei," she said upon pulling back.

"Ohayo, Aki," he replied.

They lay there for a while, just relaxing and enjoying the others presence. Finnaly though, they decided to get up for some breakfast. Afterwards, they headed to their room to change out of their PJ's. Today was a special day, it was their their monthly gathering with their friends. They had been doing this for quite some time now, a way to help get Aki to socialize. And even though they were way past that point, everyone had enjoyed it too much to let it go. Simply put: Yusei, Aki, Jack, Mina, and the twins Leo and Luna, would all spend their day together and hang out.

"Do you think we'll be going out for dinner again?" asked Aki once coming out of their bathroom to change. She and Yusei both thought that it was way to early to be so intimate that they could freely see the other without their clothes. They would wait a little while longer.

"I think so, I'm just hoping we don't get ambushed by the paparazzi...again!" Yusei replied. Boy, what a night that had been, the press had a field day once word got out that not only had the two best duelists in the city been spotted at a simple restaurant, but they had apparently been on a double-date. With Yusei going with the Black rose witch. They had to stay in the apartement building for a week before things would cool down.

"We should be alright, after all that was a long time ago-"

"A month and a half isn't that long," Yusei argued

"My point is," Aki pressed "that was the first night that I was feeling comfortable going out in public. Back then, hardly anyone knew about us,"

"True," He agreed.

And so, our two love birds set off towards the central top floor apartement. Which no doubt al their friends awaited them. They walked hand in hand, chatting a bit and enjoying eachothers company. With Yusei flirting with her every now and then. Aki thought it was cute, that no matter that he knew that her heart was his, he would still make an effort to make it even more so. Her pride would never allow her to admit it, but it worked every time.

Finnaly they arrived at the door. Their greeting was the same as every other time they came for a visit. The twins were always waiting by the door, opening it when they were mearly inches away. They were greeted warmly before entering the main room, where jack and Mina were already lounging and enjoying some tournement in another part of the world. They looked a little startled for a minute when the two sat on the couch next to them. But played it off pleasantly.

"Well, look who finnaly showed up," said Jack "I was starting to wonder what exactly you two were doing to be so fashinably late," He added playfully, before Mina caught what he was saying and grabed his ear like a mother would do to a child. He yelped when she did.

"Jack," she chided "behave yourself,"

"Yes ma'am," At once, she let him go. Then made her head comfortable on his shoulder, and almost instantly went to sleep.

"Wierd girl. one minute she's argry with you the next she's happily sleepy on your lap," Yusei remarked.

"Yeah well, that's why I love her. She can be wierd, but also just plain adorable," Jack admitted in a whisper. "Besides," he said "I'm sure you've found your girl to be a little odd too,"

"Aki is not odd," Yusei corrected him while wrapping his arm protectively around her. "What you call strange I call being sweet and lovable," Aki blushed from his praise, But she was touched that Yusei defended her like that, even if it was naturel for a man to defend the one he loved.

"Hmph, whatever," said Jack, though he was smirking so everyone knew he was just teasing about the whole thing. At this moment, Luna and Leo came back into the room the later of which sat on the opposite end of coffee table from Jack. Some cards were laid out, apparently they had been in the middle of a duel before Yusei had arrived. _Leo up against Jack? _He thought_ This won't end well_

"Okay Jack," said Leo once they had settled "Time for me to end this, you may still have 4000 points left, but I've got my ace card right here!" he exclaimed.

"Don't brag just yet, Leo," said Luna "You're the one with a meazly 600 LP," she pointed out.

"That doesn't matter," said Leo "Alright, I'm tuning my level 3 morphtronic remocon with my datatron and celfon, to sycro summon: Power tool dragon!"

"When did Leo get a sycro monster in his deck?!" Aki asked, surprised.

"He got it just this morning apparently," Mina explained. "He was bragging that it would be his ticket to being the king and of course Jack here overheard," she said.

"That explains the match," said Yusei. Sure, Jack had matured a great deal over the pas few months. But his ego could still get a bit...evident. He probably thought that one could not go prancing around claiming to be king materiel, and was planning on putting Leo in his place. _If there's one thing he learned from being king, it's that one can never give into his pride. It nearly cost Jack quite a bit, and he probably doesn't want Leo to make the same mistake._

"Now I attack your twin-shield defender with power tool dragon," Leo announced

"Trap activate: shadow spell!"

"N-n-nani*??"

"Sorry kid," said jack. "But this stops your monster from attacking, and lowers its attack points by 700 points," he announced.

"Arg! I was so close," said Leo "Turn end,"

"If you can call not even touching my life points close," Jack smirked. "Draw. Now I'll summon it, and tune it to my level 4 twin shield defender to syncro summon Explode wing dragon! And thanks to it's special ability, that's 2300 points heading your way. Simply put: I win," He declared. Leaving Leo to collapse in shame over his loss. "Don't take it so bad, squirt, I mean I am the former king,"

"Yeah, and I guess I was a bit-"

"Egoistic, hot-headed, reckless, am I getting close?" Luna cut him off.

"Oh shut up," he replied. Then, in spite of himself, he laughed. And the others couldn't help but join in the moment. After a quick handshake for a good duel, the rest of the day was just watching the tournement and commenting on what the guys should or should not have done. The whole lasted well into the evening, then suddenly, the twins stood up after a solemn nod to eachother.

"Everyone, we have an announcement," Luna declared.

"What is it, guys?" Yusei asked. Luna's tone had been oddly cheerful, which was rare, so naturally everyone knew something was up.

"Well, me and Leo were thinking about going to a restaurant again but..." she trailed off.

"But seeing as there's a chance we'll have to go into hiding again, we thought of going somewhere a little more fun,"

"What are you getting at, kid?" asked Jack.

"What I'm saying is that we had our parents are allowing us to go out tonight to the night club down the street," Leo declared. Well, that certainly caught everyone off guard.

"N-night club!?" Mina gasped. "But kids, aren't you a little young for that kid of thing?" she asked.

"Relax, Mina," said Luna. "This is a special club for kids our age, one that doesn't serve any alcoholic drinks. However, there is dancing and lots of music!"

"And the best part is that it's walking dictance from our building," Leo said proudly.

"Well then," said Aki. "I suppose it's alright then, the dancing should keep everyone distracted enough not to notice who's there with them," She reasoned.

"But just in case," said Leo. "You guys had best wear some things to diguise yourselves, like a hat and sunglasses-"

"I've got just the things," exclaimed Mina."If you would excuse me for a minute," After that, she left. Only to come back less than five minutes later with lumps of clothes. "These were me and Jack's costumes for an outing we had a while back. The other two are extra costumes that we decided not to wear. They should fit you and Aki quite well,"

"You wore these?" Aki seemed sceptical. "In public?"

"Well, it was a little dark," Jack confessed. "And it was a themed dance party,"

"Good enough," Yusei decided, and he went of to change. After a minute he came back out to see Aki gad already gone herself. He was wearing blue-jeans and a black biker jacket over his normal sleeveless. The ensemble was made complete with a pair of sunglasses. He was greeted by Jack, wearing blue jeans with a light brown long sleeve jacket and round sunglasses with a burret-like hat.

"Man, I feel silly," Jack admitted.

"At least you don't look strait from the facility," Yusei pointed out.

"With or without your marker?" Jack asked

"Don't bring this up!" Yusei responded angrilly, pointing to the marker.

"Ok ok just jokin, sheesh!"

"No sweat," Yusei then went off to sit on the couch. "I wonder what's keeping Aki?" Almost immediatly, he was answered by loud whispering from the top of the stairs. He and Jack went over to to the bottom to await them.

"Come on Aki," they heard Luna saying. "You look great,"

"No I don't," Aki was hissing. "I look ridiculous! Oh, Yusei's gonna laugh at me! I just know it!"

"Is she always this self-concious?" Jack whispered to Yusei.

"Almost never," he replied. It must have really bad if she didn't want him to see it. Then she appeared at the top and he couldn't help but gape, which didn't help. Aki was wearing a red dress that was no cloth materiel, pink high heels, and a white version of Jacks hat. Her ensemble was completeted with gold shaded sun glasses. She blushed when she saw him, from his outfit or her own noone was sure, then nervously made her way down the stairs into his arms for a reassuring hug.

"I'm not going to laugh at you, Aki," Yusei stated when they let go, and noting the relief in her face.

"Oh! And one more thing, Yusei," said Mina advancing towards him. Ignoring his protests, Mina practically jumped him. Putting what appeared to be some weird kind of powder on him. He was glaring when she backed off, while Jack just gaped.

"Come on, babe," he said. "I mean, isn't that a little, oh don't know, overkill?"

"If people see this marker of his, they'll recognise him in a second," Mina pointed out.

"But I'm a guy!" Yusei argued. "Guys do not, I mean do not, wear make-u...whoa" He stopped when Aki held a palm mirror to him, and he caught what he looked like in it. "I don't look half bad!"

"No you don't, not in the least," Aki agreed. "Infact, I kinda like you like this,"

"Yeah well, I suppose I could endure this stuff. At least for tonight," He admitted.

"Good. Now then, shall we be going now?" Aki asked the twins.

"Yup, let's go!" Leo answered, then looked at Luna with a look of concern. "You okay sis?" he asked. "You look troubled,"

"I'm fine," She assured him. That seemed to satisfy him, he went out the door with the others as they set off. _The truth is, _she thought. _is that I've had this uneasy feeling inside, like something big is going to happen, and soon, _She quickly dismissed those thoughts though, tonight was a time for fun not worries. She followed the rest of the group, unaware that her fears were about to be proven true. The sun was starting to set.

***

Rudger sat at his usual place on the table, all of his companions in their places as well.

"Alright everyone, listen up," he adressed all of them. "Tonight is at long last the night we have long awaited, the night which our masters return to this realm!" At this, the others began to chuckle and snicker.

"Not only that, tonight is the night that we have our long awaited revenge! Revenge against the signers!" At this moment, the set of candles on the tables blazed in a new life. The three flames erupted from their wax pillars, leaving them and circling in mid air, like great flaming snakes. They clustered together and formed a sphere made of three individual circles. There in the center of which appeared a face then another and another.

"These are our enemies, the signers," said Rudger, ignoring the growls of his comrades. "They are Yusei Fudo the head, Aki Izayoi the left claw, Jack Atlas the wings, and Luna Sawatori the tail,"

"We already know their identities, Rudger-sama," said Kiryu, obviously trying to keep his voice restrained. "Why are you showing us these?"

"Simple, inspiration. Think of this as your resolve driver, something that will help you realize our goal all the faster,"

"I certainly don't need a reminder of my resolve to have my revenge," the one in silver, Daisuke pointed out. "What I want to know is how we are going to free our masters," One of the females in the group seemed to notice something in the sphere, she turned to the one in orange, who seemed to share her curiosity, then they both turned to Rudger.

"Rudger-sama," said the one in orange.

"What is it, Carly?"

"Me and misty were just curious, but where is the fifth signer? You seem to only be showing four of them, where is the final one?" Noone seemed notice Rudger seem to look a little hesitant before answering.

"Ah yes, I shall get to that now," He said. "Let me first answer your question Daisuke. You see, our masters, though their spirits are free, aren't capable of physical manifestation. Simply put: the cards you now hold in your hands are virtually useless in a duel. In order to fully release them, we must each collect many human souls for them to absorb, thus giving them enough strength to free themselves," He explained."As for the matter of the fifth signer... I'm afraid that he continues to evade us. I myself have not been able to discover his identity,"

"Let me see if I understand this completely," said the one in gold. "You want us to head to the city and terrorize it. To head there and turn the night into a slaughter fest?"

"I think, Demak, that that's exactly what he wants," Daisuke smirked.

"Then let us be off!" Demak cried before raising his fist into the air. "Death to the dragon!"

"Death to the dragon!" the others called, also raising their fists to face level. Then they all dashed to the central doorway, at the far end of the chamber. Moments later, the revving of motorcyles was heard, before fading into the sat back on his chair, grinning like a madman.

"Yes, my children," He chuckled "Go and spread the shadow of our might throughout the land, and deliver to me all the souls you can gather!" He then broke into another round of maniacle laughter.

Yes, victory was near.

***

"Phew! I'm beat," Aki said while leaning her head on Yusei's shoulder. The trip to the club had been a resounding succes! With food and drinks and of course dancing like hell. Their disguises had worked like a charm too, much to their surprise. Nobody in the club had recognised them at all!

But eventually, Aki had gotten herself all tuckered out. She and Yusei, after politely excusing themselves from the group, were now on their way home. They were walking slowly, it was funny, but htey just could not get enough of eachother. Whenever they had a chance, they would always find a way to get close and revel in eachothers warmth.

Yusei kissed her head. "Yeah, that makes two of us," he said. "You were incredible back there, the best dancing I've ever seen,"

"Oh, stop, you're making me blush," Aki said. "Anyway I wasn't _that_ good,"

"Oh I beg to differ, love," Yusei countered. "I have never lied to you, and I mean it when I say that you were great,"

"You were better,"

"No, you were," Aki decided to just leave it at that. She figured if he thought she was ok, she would agree with him. Instead she decided to just relax in the crook of his neck and watch the stars, exept that there weren't any stars...but something quite different: Giant purplish-black figures littered the sky. There were about six them in total, and they seemed to be moving, slowly but surely. One moment they would be in one area, then they seemed to blink out of existance before appearing a few yards away.

"Yusei...w-what are those?" she asked shakily.

"I..." he gulped " I don't know, but they look-"

"Like those lines in the dessert of Peru," Aki realized. "But what on earth are they doing here?"

Yusei didn't answer, he didn't have time to. Because in that moment, a burning pain shot up their bodies. The place of origin, their dragon marks, something was definately wrong. Once they had recovered, they shared a look of deep concern and understanding, before taking off in a run towards the mysterious formations.

**Later...**

What awaited our two lovers when they arrived at an intersection a few minutes later was best described as something from a horror flick: bodies were everywhere, unconcious. All of them looked as if they'd seen better days. Their clothes were battered and burned, they were all wearing now destroyed duel disks and their skin was covered in burns. Everyone indeed looked badly hurt, but not dead.

But Yusei and Aki were hardly paying attention to that. They were focusing, eyes wide, on the figure whose back was turned to them in the center of the chaos. He was dressed in a long black cloak, accented with silver. But that was not what drew their eyes to him: His body seemed to be seeping out some kind of black energy. Then, out his cloak, he pulled out a card and held it in the air. Seemingly in response, the dark aura around him shot out in all directions, flowing over all the fallen duelists. It only rested a few seconds before it receded, but all it's victims were nowhere to be seen.

The aura continued to flow back towards it's creator. It reached him and continued up his arm, where it dissapeared into the card he was holding. As he turned, they saw he was grinning evilly, thoughn they found it hard to tell since his hood hid most of his face. They could see enough though to see his expression change upon seeing them. From surprised to sick joy. At that moment, instict took over, and they did the only thing they could...

"Run!" Yusei cried, and they raced off in the opposite direction, the hooded duelist taking off right on their tail, before seemingly disapearing into the shadows...

Yusei and Aki weren't thinking. For them their wasn't 'but' or 'what if-' their was just fear. Pure fear. They had no idea how long they had been running, but they finnaly stopped when they reached-

"A dead end!" cried Aki. They had wound up in an alleyway, with a wall way too big to climb.

"It's all right babe," Yusei soothed her, though obviously a bit shaken himself. "I think we lost him,"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that_,_"said a voice echoing through the alley. Both of their heads shot up in fear, they turned to the only way into the alley...noone was there. "Up here, Signers," the voice adressed them. Again, their heads shot upward, there he was, standing on the wall...the side of the wall.

"Nani ga?!" said Aki.

"Come on!" said Yusei, and they were off again. Not even worrying about possible incoming trafic, they rushed straight into the parking complex across the street.

"Yusei," said Aki. "How did that man know we were signers? How does he even know what a signer is?!"

"I dont know, Aki but something tells me we don't wanna find out!" he responded. "Come on...at the top parking area of this building, theres a staircase that leads to the street on the opposite side. If we can just get there, we might-" he couldn't finish, because something knocked the wind out of him: a rather large sphere of blue fire to be exact.

"Yusei!"

"Now, now," said their persuer. "I do think that's quite enough running, though I do enjoy it when my prey tries to resist," he sneered.

"Kisama!" Aki said. "Who are you, and what do you want from us!?" she demanded. Then she noticed something quite interesting: a mark, almost exactly like her and Yusei's. Exept that it was tainted purplish-black and it took the form of what appeared to be some kind of bird.

"Are you...a signer?" Yusei asked weakly, having noticed the same thing.

"I am a Dark signer," said their apparent enemy. "And you are about to perish," raising his hand, now glowing with dark energy. Aki reacted immidiately rushing in between them with her arms spread out in defence.

"Hold it!" she said. "If you lay one finger on him, I garantee that I will make you severly regret it," The man did not move, he simply continued to stare at her, as if she was his enemy from birth. "You can duel can't you?" She demanded, no answer. "I'll take the fact that all those people we saw back there were duelists as a yes. In such case I, Aki Izayoi, challenge you!" she declared. "I win: you leave us alone, I lose: you get me instead of him," she pointed to Yusei as if to emphasize, ignoring his protests that it was far too dangerous. The Dark signer was silent for a moment, then, his arm burst into black flames. In that instant, a strange duel disk materialized.

"I accept your challenge, Signer," he said. "You were my original target anyway, I simply went for him as an attack on your heart," Aki was no doubt enraged by that statement, but she didn't show it, she had long since gone into duelist mode: where she didn't let her opponent see even a hint of emotion. The Dark signer then inserted his deck, which had the same black aura as before into his disk and stood at the ready. Aki did likewise. Staring into eachothers eyes like lions about to battle over a piece of meat, one could see on their faces the emotions running through each of them: Aki's fiery determination, and the Dark signer's sick mixture of hate and joy.

_Finnaly, _he thought _My revenge is at hand. Aki Izayoi, prepare yourself for a painful blast from the past! _

"Let's duel!"

End of chap. 1

**Well? What do you guys think so far? It may take a while for another chapter to come up, maybe longer than this one. I can't promise I won't get a little writer's block.**

**Until next time...**


	3. familier faces

**Alright, I'm back! My appologies for the wait, school is a nightmare! Hope you guys enoyed the last two chapters so far, this one's a doozy! **

**I do not own 5D's Daisuke is an OC though.**

**enjoy...**

Familier faces.

Rex Goodwin gazed out his window with a concerned look. Just a few hours ago, mysterious beings lit up the night sky, security had beed sent to investigate, but so far noone had heard from any of them. He sighed for possibly the hundredth time that night.

"So they've already made their move," he said to noone in particular. What had he been thinking? He had just brought mere children-hardly in their mature years-to a 600 year old battlefield! He silently swore that if any of them survived tonight, he would explain everything to them. With or without their final ally.

_That is..._if _they survive at all, _he thought grimly.

***

"Hurry up guys!" Jack Atlas called as the group rounded a corner. _How the hell did it come to this? _He asked himself. Tonight was supposed to be fun: friends, food and dancing. Everything had been going so well! About a few minutes after Yusei had left with Aki, the gang had started to feel tired themselves. They had decided to leave then, but Mina's favorite song started to play and she demanded one last slow with Jack while the twins rested...That's when it all went bad.

The song was just ending, they were on their way back to Luna and Leo, when suddenly Jack and Luna keeled over in pain. Each clutching their arms. Everyone immidiatly grabbed their things and made a mad dash for the exit, for they knew that a burning dragon mark meant one thing: trouble. They picked up speed upon reaching the sidewalk, which brings us to where we are now.

"Do you think Yusei and Aki are alright?" Mina asked.

"Those guys are tough. And if I know Yusei, he'll toss his deck in the trash compactor before he lets Aki get hurt," Jack answered. "Right now, I'd worry about ourselves at the...moment?"

What awaited them once they rounded yet another corner was quite the had barely noticed before, but the streets were almost completely bare. The street before them however was...different. A mob of people stood before them, at least five-hundred, all of them duelists. But something was off about these people: their eyes were empty and emotionless and their stance was lazy and limp. These were no doubt trouble, made even more obvious by the fact that they were droning "Duel me...duel me..." while eyeing them hungrilly.

"W-what the hell are those things!?" Mina asked.

"Looks like something from a horror-flick!" Leo pointed out. "Hey, what's that?" He pointed to what appeared to be marks similar to what Luna and Jack had on the ghoulish duelists, but they were all the same: a dark mark in the shape of a spider. The others were just as puzzled about it as he was, but before they could wonder about it any further, they realized that the zombie/duelists were closing in... and fast!

"Duel me...duel me..." They droned.

"What do we do now!?" Luna panicked

"What do you think?" Jack asked her. He pulled out his duel disk, which had been stored in the backpack that he had decided to bring at the last minute. The twins did likewise with their own, realizing what he was thinking.

"These punks wanna duel? Well they've got one!"

***

While the rest of the gang fought off the apparent army, Yusei and Aki were having problems. Namely the fact that they had been chased down by a mystirious cloaked duelist. A dark signer as he called himself. Though Aki wouldn't let it show, she sensed somthing off about him. The way he smiled, though sick, twisted and sadistic, she could see something else in there: Familliarity.

Meanwhile, the dark signer himself was getting ready for what he believed was the greatest moment of his was going to pay for what she did to him, and she would pay with her life. He was just about to draw a card from his deck for an opening hand, when he felt a strange pulse.

_This duel has got you fired up too huh? _He mentally asked the new precence in his mind. _Yes, imagine my surprise when not one but two signers revealed themselves right after you had been fully released. Not only that, but one happend to be the very same one I've been longing to kill for so long! _He chuckled. _Fate must be on our side tonight, master, get ready! _He then turned his eyes to the sky and reached upward, his hand outstretched like a claw.

"Hear me, beings of darkness," he cried. "I, the emissary of the condor, summon thee to aid in the destruction of my foe!"

He then clenched his fist, and Aki and Yusei couldn't help gawking. The same symbol that was on his arm, which was now glowing brighter than ever, had formed in the sky above them. There was a loud clap of thunder, and a pillar of black flame spiraled down to them. It stopped a few inches above them, then coiled around the two duelists, forming an arena of sorts. Yusei stood up, it was a quite a site indeed, just what were these 'Dark signers'? And what other powers could they possibly posess? He was about to step foward for a closer look when...

"Hey! I...can't move," Struggle as he might, he truly was stuck. But what scared him was just what  was holding him in place. He appeared to be standing in a puddle of pure darkness, with human (or at least humanoid beings) reaching up from the shadows and clamping down hard on his ankles like clamps!

"Yusei!" Aki called out to him.

"Relax, your little boyfriend over there will be just fine, for now at least. Those spirits I summoned are incapable of harming a human being," He then smirked "You however are not so fortunate. The two of us may enter this circle, but noone can leave until the game is over. And even then, there will be only one who can leave, the other shall lose their soul forever in the world of darkness!"

"World of darkness?" Aki asked. _What the hell have I gotten myself into!?_

"I assure you, Aki Izayoi, that this duel will be the likes of which you've never seen. I'm a whole other level from those amateurs you've dueled in your life,"

"Hmph, we'll see about that," she muttered. Meanwhile, the now immobilized Yusei was watching the match with intent. _Aki..._

(Aki:4000/DS: 4000)

"Ore no turn..."said the as-of-yet unnamed Dark signer. "...Draw!" His call was soon accompanied by a sinister smile.

"I summon spirit reaper (ATK:300/DEF:100) in attack mode!" A skeleton wearing a long flowing cloak appeared on the field, glaring menacingly at Aki. "Next I place two cards face-down and end my turn,"

"Watashi no turn...draw!" Aki called in response. _Why would he play such a weak monster? _she thought, _What're you planning? _All thoughts of caution disappeared from her mind however once she saw the card in her hand. "To start things off, I'll summon cactus fighter (ATK:1900/DEF:400) in attack mode." True to it's name, a warrior like cactus appeared on the field. "Then I'll activate the field spell, black garden." The field immidiately began to change as one of Aki's signature cards took affect. Vines erupted from the ground, surrounding the two duelists in a thorny cage.

"Now whenever someone summons a monster, that monsters attack points will be halved and the opposing player shall recieve a rose token," Despite these disadvantages, the dark signer didn't even flinch. "Now, let's see how your reaper deals with it's own death...attack!"

The plant-like fighter unleashed a flurry of needles towards spirit reaper. An attack which would have surely sent it to the grave...but instead passed right through it, striking the dark signer squarly in the chest, he groaned. (DS:2100)

"Spirit reaper can't be destroyed in battle," he explained.

"Your life points aren't so lucky," Aki pointed out. "I place one card face-down and end my turn,"

"Ore no turn...draw!" That sinister smile of his was back, Aki couldn't help but wonder if she had just made a big mistake. "I think I'll get rid of this annoying field spell..."Aki paled, this was definately bad. "Trap hatsudo...cursed seal of the forbidden spell! With this, I can select one spell card on the field and remove from play not only it, but every single copy of it in your entire deck!"

"No way! That means Aki's field spell can't be played for the rest of the duel," Yusei realized. it was true, even as he concluded this, the arena that had just come into existance just as quickly rotted into ashes. Leaving the dark signer looking smug and Aki looking flabergasted.

"I'm not done yet, I still have another trap: Mirror of the dark ruler! This card can only be activated when one of my zombie type monsters loses a fight, I simply discard the top two cards from my deck, and it reflects the damage I took from the battle directly to my opponent," Sure enough, a giant, demonic-looking mirror rose out of the ground. Immidiatey adjusting to reflect Aki's image, it fired a halo of needles like what her cactus fighter had used, this time tainted black. They struck her in exactly the same place as the dark signer, leaving her gasping for breathe. (Aki:2100)

"No need to thank me," the signer cackled. "I'm just feeling generous today,"

"This is...an actual impact shock?!"Aki realized. "How can this be? Have I lost control of my powers again? No, that's not it,"

"Figured it out yet?" her opponent called to her. "This duel isn't a normal holographic sideshow. If you look closly, every monster, as well as magic and trap effect, is tangible. All the blows dealt to you and your deck will be actual, physical, strikes," His voice was non-chalant, despite this rather disturbing information.

"Does this mean that my attacks are causing you harm aswell?" Aki demanded.

"Of course, I feel every blow! But you shouldn't be concerned about your opponent. That kind of thinking will get you killed, especially here!" The dark signer then picked up another card from his hand, a slot popped open on his disk. "Now, I do think a change of scenary is in order. I'll activate my own field spell: Zombie world!"

The field instantly changed beneath him, a dark fog spreading from his feet. It seemed to rot away everything within their little arena, leaving it looking like it was just hit by a nuclear bomb. And, under a haze of dark clouds which just appeared above them, Aki could just make out the form of a large hill. It was littered with gravestones. Not only that, her cactus fighter was starting to shrivel and rot.

"What is this?"

"It's just the power of my field spell. As long as this card is out, all monsters on the field and in the graveyard will count as zombies," Aki suddenly felt a little relief. An effect like that was hardly a threat.

"If that's all you got," she said "Than you're not so tough after all,"

"I assure you, Aki Izayoi, that there is more to my strategy than meets the eye," the dark signer replied. "Now I activate the spell card, harvest of souls*! This card can only be activated when I have spirit reaper on my side of the field, it lets me remove any amount of monsters in my graveyard from play, and it summons a lost-soul token for each one," Spirit reaper waved its' sythe over the ground, and two ghost like creatures rose from the dust. (ATK:900/DEF:0)

"Hold it! I haven't sent any of your monsters to the grave, so how-"

"I never said _you _had to send them, these ghosts were summoned by removing from play the cards I sent to the grave when I played my mirror of the dark ruler...Now, I release my two tokens to advance summon: Dark tuner chaos reaper!(ATK:0/DEF:0)" The two ghost tokens vanished from the field, leaving in their place a strange creature. It appeared to be some sort fiend, its' upper and lower torso seemingly suspended in midair by a strange sphere in its' center.

"Dark tuner? What the hell is that?" shouted Yusei from the side lines. The same question was written all over Akis' face.

"You two certainly ask alot of questions," the dark signer stated. "But you'll see soon enough. Just watch as I dark tuning my Dark tuner catastrophe with my spirit reaper," Catastrophe was already rising into the air, upper and lower parts disappearing, leaving nothing but it's mysterious core. It abrubtly broke aswell, leaving a circle of stars.

"DT chaos reaper is a lv. 9, and spirit reaper is a lv.3. Now behold: Dark tuning!" He continued. But even as he uttered those words, the newly released stars surrounded the reaper. Then, suddenly, they thrusted themselves into it, only to burst out moments later as Spirit reaper faded to nothing. Only, they themselves were dark, and there were only six of them.

"What the...! The stars have turned black?" said questionned Yusei.

"Yes, the light has turned to dark," replied the dark signer crypticly, then continued to explain. "Dark tuning is just like a regular syncro summon, only you subtract the level of the dark tuner monster from the other card you used,"

"No! That can't be!" Aki argued. "If you subtract a lv.9 from a lv.3-"

"Oh, but it is, see?" Her opponent then proceded to reveal a card from his hand. It was completely black, with stars that showed it's level going from left to right. "A negative level six monster," He explained. Both our heros were flabergasted.

"Impossible," They muttered. While the dark signer meerly laughed and started to chant...

_When darkness overlaps with darkness,_

_the doors of the underworld shall open,_

_to a world without light!!_

_Dark syncro! _

_show yourself,_

_Lich king Aruthias*!!!_

A pillar of darkness erupted from the ground as he said this, only to dissapate once he finished. The new monster that appeared forth was something the likes of which neither Yuse and Aki had ever seen. It resembled a warrior king clad in black armor, its' face veiled under its' helmet. In it's hand was an enormous sword covered with strange symbols, glowing with an unholy looking aura. (ATK:2500/DEF:2500)

"Now Aki Izayoi," The dark signer cackled. "Stare into the face of the instrument of your destruction, and the tool of my revenge!" That brought her attention back to him.

_Revenge? Just who is this guy? And why does he seem so familliar?_

_***_

Jack had been running/dueling for what felt like hours. He, Luna, and Leo had been fighting their way through zombified duelists, and at this point they were all exausted. Every time they managed to beat one, another more skilled one arrived to take its' place. To make matters worse, they all had powers similar to Akis', where the damage a duelist takes is real. This of course left them gasping breathe. They had at last seemed to lose them awhile back and were now following Luna.

"Are you sure they're this way sis?" Leo asked for the umpteenth time.

"I'm sure Leo," she answered rather calmly. "I'm not sure how, but I can feel them both close by...this way,"

"I can feel it too," Jack agreed. They continued in silence, never once letting their guard down. Not wanting to be caught by surprise by those...whatever the hell those things were.

Suddenly, a little while later, Jack leapt infront of all of them. His left arm, mark of the dragons' wing glowing, was raised in an army-like signal for the rest of them to halt.

"What is it?" Mina asked.

"More ghouls," he answered. "They're right around the corner,"

Sure enough, there were about a dozen duelists toward the street on the other end of the alleyway. Relief flowed through the group once they realised they hadn't noticed them. Unfortunately the group were so intend on watching them and waiting for that path to clear, they paid no attention to the other end of the alley. They realized this a second too late as a second group passed right infront of them...only to continue on their way and join the other group.

Okay, now they were confused, weren't the last few hours of the night spent trying to get away from zombie duelists, why were they sudennly off the priority list? Not that were complaining.

"Well, that was conviniant," Leo remarked

"Shh! We don't knowif they were ignoring us or just didn't notice us," Mina chided him

"I don't know, Babe. It may be dark, but they're not blind. There's no doubt in my mind that they noticed us,"

"Well then, why did they suddenly decide to leave us alone?"

"Don't know," the former king replied. "But something's up," there was a light pause, then: "We should follow them," he stated. The reactions he recieved were just what he was expecting.

"Are you crazy?!" Leo hissed. "This is our chance! We should-"

"I think he's right Leo," His sister cut him off. "I can feel the others' presance there anyway,"

And so they were off. Cautious, though considerably less so, they followed the what-were-duelists. They didn't have to go very far though, they didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

_What the hell is going on here? _was the thought that went through their heads as they gazed up at a collosal wall...a wall of black flame.

_***_

"Now go my servant! Strike her cactus fighter down with blade of the fallen!"

The undead lord obeyed in an instant. With both hands, it raised its' great sword into the air and struck the now decayed cactus fighter, cleaving it clean in two. The result of which an explosion from the fallen creature which, to Aki, sent shockwaves through her body (Aki:1500). Then something peculier happened, when the smoke cleared Aki was surprised to see her monster on her opponents' side of the field.

"Nani?"

"I guess I should explain this too," chukled the dark signer. "My lich king is the king of all undead. And what good king lets his servants go to waste? Every time he destroys a zombie-type monster, that monsters' destruction is negated, and I gain control of it, and since all your cards are zombies due to my field spell...well, I don' need to tell you the details"

"Not good," said Yusei from the sidelines. _If this keeps up...ungh! And i can't do anything about it!!_

Aki shared his frustration '"Kisama..." she cursed. "...I'm wide open," Meanwhile, the dark signer was about to take full advantage of her perdicament.

_Now's my chance! _he thought. _One more attack and- _"Ugh!" he clutched his chest as a sharp pain stabbed through it. _Of course, why should I let her off so easily? Very well, as you wish my lord, I shall toy with her for now, and let you finish her off,_

"I switch your monster to defence mode and end my turn," He declared, leaving Aki confused.

"What the...? Why did he do that? He could've finished me right there," Then it hit her. "Is he toying with me!?" That did it, Aki was quite an independant person, despite her relationship with Yusei. She was always trying to prove that she was a highly capable young woman, ever since the fortune cup. She had always been trying abandon her old way of thinking, where she would let someone else think for her.

_Well, _she thought. _Mr. Over-confident here is about to regret his decision._

"Ore no turn...draw! I summon Ivy wall in defence mode, turn end."

"I take it you had a bad draw," her opponent taunted. "Draw! Lich king Aruthias, demolish her wall!" Saying that, the great warrior raised its' sword and blew ivy wall to pieces, leaving a strange creature in its' place.

"When Ivy wall is sent to the grave, it leaves a ivy token on your side of the field-"

"And if the token is destroyed, I take 300pts of damage," The dark signer cut her off. "I'm well aware of it's effects Izayoi," he adressed her "I've seen you use that effect dozens of times,"

"Nani? How?"

"Oh, I have my reasons," was all he said.

"Don't give me that crap!" Aki shouted. "Just who the hell are you?! Why do want to kill me so badly?!" She demanded.

"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to give you just a little hint," The dark signer smirked. "I activate my Lich kings' second special ability: Once per turn I sacrifice any number of zombie-type cards on my field, and you lose 200LP equal to the level of the monster destroyed, I tribute the level 4 cactus fighter to send 800Pts of damage your way,"

Cactus fighter rotted away into nothing, leaving nothing but a strange aura that engulfed Aruthias' blade in a terrifying, but nonetheless beutiful, glow. The undead lord then slashed the air, sending a wave of energy hurteling towards Aki. (Aki:700) At that instant, a vision flashed through Akis' mind, it seemed that The dark signers' intentions were to knock her memory into work. It was hazy, and only bits and pieces, but she could see a few details:

**Flashback/vision:**

It was what appeared to be Neo-domino park, or rather, a large tree at the center of it. In its' branches, hiding within the thick leaves, sat two figures. Aki recognised one of the figures as herself, and she was looking at the young boy next to her intently. It seemed as if he was telling her a story, while using his hands to express some of the parts. She was laughing, clearly enjoying herself, when he spoke:

"Those guys are all gullable idiots," he stated. "And prone to anger. Geez all I did was swipe a couple of apples for dinner, he could at least be a little more considerate,"

"You know that would be impossible, Daisuke," said Aki. Her tone suggested that she was not chiding him, but simply like she was stating a painfully sad fact. "Not with our reputation here,"

All whimsy seemed to fade from the boy, apparently Daisukes', face. "I know, Aki, believe me. But there is nothing more I would love in this world for my little fiasco to be all that there was..."

"But there's more than that," Aki finished for him when he trailed off. "There's..." she pointed to her arm. "...It's this...thing," At this, Daisuke smirked.

"Don't go blaming yourself again, Aki," he chided. "That's the only thing I _do _regret in being your friend: your freakin' guilt spells!" Sure enough, Aki was starting to sob.

"But...you had a family...and friends. sniff I took that all away from you,"

"No, you didn't," he corrected her. "I was already a disapointement in my parents' eyes, I bet they were just waiting for a reason to disown me,"

He took her chin gingerly with his fingertips, and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "You're such a crybaby sometimes,"

"sniff I-I know," she smiled back. "Thanks, Dai-kun, you're a true friend,"

Daisuke grinned, apparently pleased by the change in her mood. "Besides," he said "I believe that...whatever it is, has a better part to play in your life yet,"

"I doubt it," Aki frowned. "This wretched mark is something I don't think can ever be a good part of my life. Not now, not ever, " her tone started to rise, then before Daisuke had a chance to intervene, she took a deep breath and relaxed. "I wish it never appeared on my arm, that none of this had ever happend,"

Her companion put a hand on her shoulder. "So do others who see such times, but that is not for them to decide," He said. "What is important, is what we decide to do when the choices are given to us,"

Aki didn't answer, but seemed to take what he had said to heart. She lay her hand on his own, and they sat there in silence. Watching the sunset, through the leaves that kept them hidden from the rest of the world...from the people that had forsaken them.

**End flashback/vision**

Aki found herself struggling to get up. That vision, it was a long surpressed memory, one that had become lost in her mind once she joined the Arcadia movement. That boy, Daisuke, how could she have let herself forget him? He had been all she had growing up on the streets. But then she remembered _that_ night.

"Are you starting to remember, Aki-hana-chan?" Her 'enemy' questionned. She gasped. That name, only one person in the world ever called her that, but that was...

"Impossible," She muttered. Pure shock etched into her voice. The dark signer laughed again, but this time, Aki recognised it. "D-Daisuke? Daisuke Fujiwara?"

The Dark signer laughed even harder, he cackled like a madman before lowering the hood that had kept half his face covered this whole time. And Aki Izayoi looked on in horror as she looked into his face...

end of chapter 2.

**Haha! Don't you just love cliffhangers? Sorry it took me so long to update, school is a nightmare this time of year. **

**Just who is this Daisuke fellow? What is his connection to Aki? Find out in the next chapter... **


End file.
